Stolen Beauty Victory: Costco Feels the Love

Posted by CODEPINK Staff

In mid-December Rula Borelli, prompted by a friend who brought her attention to the fact that AHAVA products were on sale at Costco, sent a letter to the company asking them to remove AHAVA from their shelves, explaining about AHAVA’s illegal practices and the Stolen Beauty boycott campaign against them. Borelli then started a Facebook group called “Ask Costco to remove AHAVA from their shelves,” thinking that she could mobilize more people to contact Costco via the social networking site.

Borelli, who lives in Seattle, used the group, which soon grew to over 200 members, to bombard Costco with messages about AHAVA. She also encouraged the group’s members to join Costco’s fan page on Facebook where they posted messages about AHAVA to be read by Costco fans.

Borelli and others received non-committal formal replies from Costco representatives for almost a month. They were undaunted and continued sending messages to the company, until finally, in the second week of January, Borelli received a reply from a company representative saying:

“These items are pending delete in our system and once they have sold they are no longer available. Your concerns have been forwarded to our corporate offices.”

A search of the Costco online store for AHAVA turns up no results. But Borelli and her team of online organizers have turned up great results for the Stolen Beauty boycott campaign with their group efforts. No more AHAVA at Costco!